Cooker



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N. B. HENRY COOKER Filed Mar. 11, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR.

mm r ATTORNEYS.

Am. 17, 1923.. N. B. HENRY COOKER :5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Mar. 11. 192 1 I N VEN TOR.

1 are oll bearing, are cooked in cooking 35 some other materials,

40 Oll press, without either 'rnemeaa 17,1923.

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NELSON B. HENRY, OF ATLANTA, GEORGE,

A. ASSIGNOR TO THE IVIURRAY COMPANY,

OF DALLAS, TEXAS, A CORPORATION OF cooknn.

Application filed March 11, 1921,

To all whom it may concern e it known that I, NELSON B. HENRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, in the county ofFulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cookers, of which the following is a. specification.

y invention relates to an improvement in cookers, for vegetable material, such as various grains or meals, copra, cotton seed and other nuts and seeds. The grains are subjected to a cooking process inpreparation, in whole or in part, for sale or consumption, while the other materials, which preparation for the extraction of the oil therefrom. The amount and quantity of the oil yield from a vegetable oil bearing material operated upon will vary greatly according to the process employed prior to the actual oil expression by pressing in a suitable press. With regard to grains, the cooking process, having regard. to the desired characteristics in the cooked product, is also important. There is a best process for coolmg every material, as to time of cooking, temperature and the time application and variation of temperature.

Very dry material, as for example, dry

cottonseed meats, attains its proper cooked temperature much more rapidly than ma terial having high moisture content. It is obvious therefore that the treatment of such material should be shorter as compared to in order that the apparatus may bring the material to 'a condition where the highest percentage of oil of the best quality may be produced in the subsequent treatment of the materials in an overcooking or undercooking and which will at all times cause the apparatus to work at maximum capacit lln the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of cooker having multiple superposed pans; Figure 2 is a sectional plan view, showing the passages and valves between the superposed pans;

Figures 3 and 4 are detail views on an enlarged scale of the control 'blade and motor;

Figure 5 is a detail of the thermostat heat control.

It will be obvious that in such an a M paratusit is a desideratum that itshall be Serial Manatee.

as nearly as may be, selfcontrolled, reducing the labor element of supervision to a minimum and producing a more exact and regular application of the cooking process. To this end. the control of the heat element or factor in cooking is controlled by the application of the thermostat to the control of the steam entering the steam jackets of the cooker, to predetermine the heat in t e cooker, varying it by adjustment, as desired, in the several pans of the cooker.

In the best'method' ofcooking oil bearing vegetable material, the cooking time should be uniform for agiven seed or nut mass, and must, according to the qualities of the material, be varied from time to time. Very dry material requires very much less time to properly cook than does material aving a high moisture content.- The material enters the cooker at atmospheric temperature and it is desirable that'it should be raised quickly as possible toa temperature of about 150 Fahrenheit, which will begin to affect the mass, and thereafter, during the requisite period, by successive increments of heat. be gradually raised to a maximum heat of about 225 ahrenheit.

The intermediate degrees of heat might beprovided bya gradually increased heat application to a single container, but such a method is not controllable, without constant tests and m ersight. and in my apparatus I provide multiplicity of 0on tainers, each separately goverened as to heat, from one of which to another the mass constantly progresses through a constantly increasing temperature, until it reaches, in the last container its maximum of 225 Fahrenheit.

In my apparatua'l provide a multiplicity of pans or containers, showing in the drawings four such plans, super-imposed, into the uppermost of which, A, the mate rial is passed through a feed mechanism, a, feeding constantly a measured quantity per minute. PanflA rests upon pan B, pan B upon pan C and pan C upon pan D, which last is supported upon columns, Passing centrally through the several pans is a central shaft E carrying at its upper end a gear,e, meshing with a gear, 7", fast to a shaft F carried in bearings 7 upon the up- A pulley f is provided by which the shafts E and F may be rotated from some power source, In the Ill) temperature to the first temperature designed, say 150 Fahrenheit. This temperature is governed by the provision of the thermostat T, controlling the steam to the jacket spaces of the several pans, and set to open or close the steam admission When the temperature at the point of discharge ex oeeds or falls below the designed temperature. Assuming that 100 pounds Wlll fill tank A to a depth of say 6 inches, the blade 6 is adjusted in its relation to the motor, to operate the slide valve suitably when the depth varies from six inches either up or down. The blade 6 and motor may be adjusted for a depth of twelve inches in pan B, equal to 200 pounds, of mass, and temperature, for example, at 200 Fahrenheit. The blade 6 and motor may be ad justed for a depth of eighteen inches in pan equal to 300 pounds, of mass, and temperature of 220 Fahrenheit. The temperature of pan D is, for example, 225 Fahrenheit. N 0 blade and motor control is usually amount desired in pan D, and thereafter is intermittently discharged, in measured quantities in a given time, equal on the average to the quantity fed to tank A in the given time.

I claim:

1. In a cooker for a vegetable mass, a multiplicity of superposed, jacketed cooking pans, each pan provided With an exit passage through the Walls thereof; a sliding valve at the exit passage to vary the eifective area thereof; motors to actuate each exit valve to vary Without closing the valve, the effective area of the exit opening; in combination with means Within each pan to a circular path and 2. .In a cooker for avegetable mass, a multiplicity of superposed, jacketed cooking pans, each pan provided With an exit passage through the Walls thereof; a thermostatic control for the heating agent; a sliding valve at the exit passage to vary the effective area thereof; motors to-actuate each exit valve to vary Without closing the valve the effective area of the exit opening; in combination with means Within each pan to actuate the mass in a circular path and a swinging blade actuated by themovement of the mass; adjustable means between the blade and the motor to control the motor of the exit openings as predetermined quantity of mass in each pan.

3. In a cooker for a vegetable mass, a multiplicity of superposed jacketed cooking pans, each pan provided With an exit passage through the walls thereof, the successive openings being offset in a spiral line opposite to the direction of movement of the sweep that sweep, rotating Within each pan and moving the mass in a circular path,

a valve controlling each exit passage and means to control each valve; all organized and combined, substantially as described, to maintain a predetermined amount of vegetable mass in each pan and the cooker.

Signed at Atlanta, Georgia, this 26th ,day of February, 1921.

NELSON B. HENRY. 

